Merry Christmas!

Ava really enjoyed the holidays this year as she's beginning to understand that they bring fun, yummy food and visiting relatives...and a gift or two. Her favorite thing about Christmas so far has been the Christmas lights. The first time she saw them this year we were driving down the road and she screamed, "MOMMY...look!!!" I nearly swerved off of the road before I realized she was just excited about the lights.

Christmas Eve was spent at Grandma and Grandpa's house where Ava got to visit with her great-grandmother, Rose (Grandpa's Mom) as well as Adam's cousin, Jason and his Dad, Art. Of course, the regular 'Hofer clan was there as well...all her aunts and uncles and cousins!

Ava and cousin Caleb loved playing with the puppet theatre that Adam made for her for Christmas...it has stage lights, velvet curtains and everything! He also made a separate hinged box for puppet storage.

A laid-back, lazy Christmas morning was spent drinking hot cocoa and egg nog, listening to Christmas music and opening a few gifts, at our house.

Adam helps Ava with the buckle on her red, sparkly dress-up shoes...what a sweet Daddy!

Christmas afternoon was spent at Nana and Poppy's house where Ava got to meet my cousin, Tommy, for the first time. She also got to visit with my cousin, Christina and her son, Trenton (one of her favorite cousins!).

Uncle Josh and Aunt Kat showed Ava how to work their playdough gift...I think Uncle Josh may have had more fun than Ava!

At Grandma and Grandpa's house Ava and her cousins, Caleb and Trevor had lots of fun decorating Christmas cookies.

We continued our annual tradition of decorating a gingerbread house...Ava still enjoys eating the "decorations" most during this project!

We hope this holiday season finds you and yours surrounded by those you love, delicious food and plenty of memories to last for many Christmas times to come!

Doin' the Turkey Trot!

This was our 3rd year to participate in the Thanksgiving Day Dallas Turkey Trot! We spent Thanksgiving morning walking around downtown Dallas with an estimated 30,000 other folks for this year's Trot.

Waiting for our train at the DART station...
Miss Ava enjoyed the ride on the DART down to the race. The rail was packed with Turkey Trotters! What a beautiful day for a jaunt through downtown!

Here is our future marathoner leading the way for Daddy to the finish line (we let her get out of the stroller for the last 50 yards of the race)Hoisted on Daddy's shoulders, Ava celebrates her completion of the race!

On the way back to the DART station we went through Pioneer Plaza and the stampede of longhorn and cowboy statues. Ava thought this was pretty fun!

Daddy let her take a "ride" on one of the longhorns...

Cookie Baking Fun!

How to make and enjoy delicious chocolate chip cookies:
Step 1 - Help your Mommy and Daddy mix all of the ingredients. Step 2 - Form the dough into little balls and place on the baking sheet. Eeewwww...be aware that the dough sure is sticky!
Step 3 - Let Mom and Dad worry about putting them into the oven and getting them out.
Step 4 - Simply take your cookie and attempt to grab your Daddy's cookie while he's distracted by smiling for the camera...
...then dunk your cookie into a cold glass of milk...
...and take a really, really BIG bite! Yum!

Tune in next time for Chef Ava's cooking adventures!

Trick-or-Treat!

Our first official Halloween activity was a stop by Aunt Michelle to Ava's playhouse...trick-or treat!


Aunt Michelle also got an extra Halloween treat...a little kiss!


One last pic before heading to hand out candy at our front door...cheese!


Waiting for trick-or-treaters to show up...


Ava was a little shy about handing the candy out herself, so she hid behind Adam for a little while.


More trick-or-treaters to give candy to...


Aunt April came by on her way home from work for a special trick-or-treat visit to Ava's newly completed playhouse!


Ava loves to see little John via April's tummy...


Uncle Tate also stopped by later to trick-or-treat at Ava's house!


Our first trick-or-treat stop was at our friend, Marianne's house where Ava was excited to ring the doorbell all by herself...


After all the giving out of candy, Ava is ready to GET some candy.



Approaching the Gorman home...


Mmm...yummy chocolate. I have a feeling she'll be talking about "Halloween time" for a long while!



Ava helped herself to a piece of candy...and then another...


Ava really wanted to go inside to see the doggies! Here is her expression after one of them tried to run up to her...


Ava loves Joey and Cricket, but they are so big and fast that she gets nervous-excited when they're running around!


Ava loves Joey and Cricket, but they are so big and fast that she gets nervous-excited when they're running around!

The Playhouse is Finished!

Adam completed the playhouse this past weekend with much help from Jeff and a couple of past-midnight work sprees (those guys are crazy!). The hard work is evident in the beautiful results of the finished house. Take a look...

Here is an outside view where you can see the red, front, "dutch" door (it's split in half so that you can close the bottom, but open the top). You can also see the nice, tiny gutter at the edge of the roof...no detail was spared! Ava was happy to show her cousin, Caleb around her playhouse while each was dressed in their costume in preparation for Halloween a few days later.


Here you get a look inside and can see the little window air-conditioning unit (that'll come in handy this summer!), the play kitchen that I got to move out of my formal living area and the pretty pergo floors.

Here is a view from inside the playhouse looking out the door where you can see the interior light switch and the front porch light switch.

Way to go, Daddy! Ava and I couldn't be more proud of Adam! The first night after it was finished, the three of us spent a cozy evening inside the playhouse watching one of Ava's movies on her portable DVD player. The next night she and Adam hung out in there (with a space heater plugged in) while Ava pretended to make cookies and bacon and peanut butter sandwiches (ugh...yum) for Daddy. Be sure to check back soon to see the next post which will be about all the fun she had having trick-or-treaters come to her playhouse to get candy!

Arboretum Rock Garden Concerts

Along with our very good friends, Michelle and Jeff, we got season tickets to the Arboretums 'Rock Garden' concerts that were five Thursdays from the end of September through October.

Thank goodness for the extra energy from Aunt 'Chelle and Uncle Jeff who help chase Ava around the stage!



Here's the family picture we squeezed in right before Ava started begging us all to go dance with her...



She always manages to make a few friends who help to keep her busy playing...

...and dancing (cute, huh?!)...

...and sharing their snacks...

Aunt 'Chelle is hiding her exhaustion well after chasing Ava around all evening!

Look at our dancing queen...she's gonna be a heartbreaker, I think!

Cheering for Daddy!

Ava and I try to make it to at least a couple of Adam's softball games each season to support he and the other guys that play for the church where his Dad preaches. Ava loves to cheer her Daddy on!

Here you see her after she's just given him a few pointers while he waits in the dugout.



SWING batta, batta!!

We always go get ice cream afterward, and this time Grandma joined us for a little playtime.

Fall Fun at the Dallas Arboretum

Ava and I are spending Monday mornings this fall at the Dallas Arboretum at the "Mommy and Me Monday" event. They've got a big pumpkin patch, face painting (Ava wants nothing to do with this yet), storytelling, a petting zoo, music, crafts and more.



The budding artist at work in the crafts station...

Here she is giving a goat a much-needed brushing...

This is her favorite fountain in the Arboretum...I must confess that it's my favorite too!